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Comments
As far as pricing, my 325i SP is less than 31.5K very nicely equipped with everything that I wanted. The 330i would be even nicer but you know what, the 328 was "only" 190 hp and it never felt underpowered. With the 325i SP manual, I feel like I can take just about anyone out for a little fun ride and come out ahead. Ultimately, there is a lot more to a car than straight-line acceleration. I still would not pay 4-5 grand premium for an otherwise identical 3-series but it all comes down to personal choice and how you want spend your money. If I were after the ponies alone, I would've bought an American muscle car. I couldn't be happier with the choice I made - I love my 325i. Besides, it's more fun driving a car 10 out of 10 at its limits
I have left my salesman a message. I will be speaking to him shortly. I am quite certain he will fix this for me and apologize. I actually suspect this was my fault, because I based my offer on old options info from www.cars.com. They have no updated their info, but hadn't when I ordered. In any event, I'm sure this will be rectified directly.
This little bonus will bring my purchase price down to $38,475 (including mats and $200 advertising fee) -- a little more than $3,000 over what I was originally considering paying for a loaded 325xi. I am THRILLED.
I agree that if you are getting the AWD, the 330 is much better. The added 250 lbs. from the AWD will be more than offset by the added power of the 330 and I think in this case it's well worth the extra money. To be completely honest, I would have gladly taken another 20 horses on the 325i but 40 at 4-5 grand was not worth it in my case. The money I saved is happily invested and working hard towards my Porsche 911 Carrera.
unboriguy - there are two 330xi cars going to Ohio dealers in black/sand with xenons and SP but, the second I select CWP, it comes back with zero matches. Did you order it in OH and if so, can you verify CWP?? BTW - They're both in 111. Tell me the dealer name/city and confirm Jet Black w/ sand leather and I'll tell you what's what.
tcn2k - they'll have your car by end of next week (or that week-end, perhaps)
Best Regards,
Shipo
Remember 330xi, NJ, Steel Blue, Steptronic, Black Leatherette, delayed, miserable, confused, desperate, pain in the neck, etc., etc.???
THANKS!!!
alp - good man. We won't learn much fighting stupidity. Just goes to show that kids should not be left unattended. And, honestly, the more I hear about how much BMWs are not a good deal or whatever, the more convinced I am that I made the right choice. Get this: I still have my old Jetta VR6; it's still quicker than my BMW and you know what: I have not even thought about driving it. Going for all-out acceleration only is like a teenager focusing on the extra-large fake boobs instead of going for the complete package; that comes with a little more maturity and oh, yes, it's much better.
I did find one car like that. It's going to Mt. Kisco, NY. Is this yours??? It's the only one in production right now.
OR - If its going to Open Road in Edison, then it's in 111 so it's still a few weeks from production.
Again, sorry. You were never a low priority. It does take time to narrow it down to each persons car with the info I get.
In future people (if there's anyone I've not yet told!!) I need car type color (in and out) a few key options and the name of your dealer or the city they're in. Thanks!
have you thought about charging for your "car locator" service?!! lol
I have an interesting question for you:
My dealer told me that I have virtually the last 2001 "xi" being built in Germany; do you think that is correct? Sounded like a very obvious sales gimmick, but given the demand and supply ratio and the imminent 2002 MY around the corner, I thought it could be possible.
What do you think?
Also, my partner has a 2001 325xi/silver/gray/step/cwp/pp/xenons/cd coming in to marlton NJ also.......any idea about his status? take your time! no rush!
veekay1
Any clue what the heck is going on??? It was ordered on 3/28 with minor changes on 4/7 and still 111 - feels like they have somehing against me or may be my dealer screwed up somewhere.
I guess there's nothing I can do other than getting more and more frustrated. I don't why I can't get a real scoop from BMWNA either.
Thanks again,
-Z
Thanks for your help.
veekay1 - last xi being built???!! Well, for the 2001 MY and relative to when the first ones were built, it is more towards the end. But there'll likely be a few thousand more after yours!! And when they come back from summer vaction and the same car is called a 2002 MY, they keep on building 'em !!
unboringuy - like for zmantop, the next month will come and go before you know it, and then you'll be making plans to go pick it up !!
But don't hate your sales person. Most of them (sadly even at BMW!) aren't usually the sharpest and he/she was probably just trying to add some excitement to this, what is, a special event for you. The intentions were good.
Best Regards,
Shipo
In summary, it can seem alarmingly long to take a brand new engine to 14,000+ miles with some good strong-armed driving with-out ever even adding oil!! But think about it - every heard of progress? Ideally the engine, like those new 5 speed automatics, will soon become a sealed item which no longer needs such maintainence.
I will re-post what I said over there a few days ago, and then add another thought.
Previous post:
Consider the following points:
- Modern LEV (3-Series) and ULEV engines running with modern fuel produce a mere fraction of the combustion gunk (a very technical term ;-) that is) generated by an engine from just 5 years ago, the result, extended oil change intervals.
- Synthetic oil has a far superior ability to hold said gunk in suspension when compared to conventional oil, the result, extended oil change intervals.
- BMW has seen fit to almost double the amount of oil in the reservoir when compared to other engines of similar displacement, more oil means more ability to suspend particulate matter and protect the engine, the result, extended oil change intervals.
All of which makes frequent oil changes a waste of money and harmful to the environment.
Additional comment:
The above re-post does not address that "First" oil change at about 1000 miles. That used to be important because of the large manufacturing tolerances used by lesser marques and in days gone by. Said large tolerances required a "Break In" period so that little extra bits of metal and such got ground off and dumped into the oil pan. It is my understanding that BMW (and a few others) now manufacture engines with such small tolerances that any bits of metal set free by the break in process (if any at all) are easily dealt with by the oils' ability to hold them in suspension and of course the filter.
I normally turn my cars in every 3 to 4 years. I am toying with keeping my 328i well into the 100,000 mile range just to see if the BMW engineers know what they are talking about. Obviously, I am betting that they do.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
1) Style 71 is 8x18 front 225/40ZR18 and rear 8.5x18 255/35ZR18. Can I just get the 225s for front and rear (I want to be able to rotate the tires so they last longer)
2) Can I swap them out with the original 325Ci SP wheels (and pay the difference if there is one)? Perhaps this is an individual dealer issue.
3) If the #2 is possible, is this something that can be done when the car is produced in Germany or will it have to be done at my dealer?
To everyone (but trolls)--I apologize for the negativity of my posts in response to v_tech. It just sets me off when I see someone just trying to ruin a good thing. Glad it's over (fingers crossed).
Best Regards,
Shipo
Ya done me proud...
I have been a veteran of a few message board wars. While they are usually stupid and pointless, I would like to just take a moment to admonish my fellow bimmer lovers to consider the value of the market of ideas.
When someone like v-tech comes into the midst of a discussion like this, it is easy to become adversarial and to essentially shout the person down. Indeed, sometimes people take the extra step of simply trying to have the person censored and removed.
While in some circumstances a message board poster may be so immature and so disruptive that this may be an appropriate remedy, I honestly do not believe this to be the case with our resident naysayer. Although he is probably not terribly bright, and although he disagrees with most of us (including me) concerning the merits of the 3 series, I value dissenting voices in my life.
Dissent forces many to consider the veracity of assumptions that would not otherwise be questioned. This dialectic -- thesis/antithesis/synthesis -- is incredibly valuable in terms of arriving at new insights and developing a sophisticated understanding of any topic.
Before we try to simply silence those that disagree with us, perhaps it would be to all of our benefit if we tried to reason and discuss rather than insult and berate.
All that said, I think a Lexus is nothing but a Toyota with gold trim and I laugh at anyone who would waste his money in such a manner.
by the way is xexnon light and multi steering wheel now standard in 325i?
Can you find out the exact day the car is built? I want to check "horoscope" of mine
Just find out my car is "In transit"-- wish it arrives sooner than the saleman says.
BMW drivers: Does the car come with a manual which suggests the maintenance? Reading the posts regarding unusual oil change, tire rotating... makes me worried. How do i find out the correct maintenance? Thanks everyone.
Meg
have to say I'm not comfortable with the concept of censoring dissenting voices. Denright expressed my feeling much better than I could hope to so I'll leave it at that.
Gurumike, sorry to add to your workload. I have a 325i Steel Blue/Grey, PP, CWP, Xenons, CD going to Tate BMW in Annapolis, MD. Any status info would be appreciated. Tx in advance.
Thedeepdarkblu-You indicated that you ordered SP with black leather and MR (instead of PP). Was this because you did not like the wood trim that comes with PP? BTW, I love your "handle" for this board.
General Opinions on wood trim please. I'm hesitant to order PP with black leather because of how I believe the wood trim that comes with PP might look, but I have not seen this in person yet (as I'm in the Middle East for awhile). What are the opinions of others on this board as to how the wood trim looks with black interior??
Another question - Does anyone know at what point in time you can place an order for the next model year's production for 3 series??
Thanks, Ken
As for our troll, it was clear that he was not here to discuss, if that were the case, he would have spent most of his time over on the IS300 boards. According to his profile, the ONLY place he was posting was the 3-Series sedan board. In my E-Mail to our host (Aaron, aka. L8_Apex) I simply alerted him to the fact that we had somebody who was being a little abusive and may be approaching the limits of the "Terms of Use". I then asked him if there was any way to warn v_tech to tread a little more lightly. Aaron responded to me that with the extreme amount of traffic on our board, that he was guilty of "scanning", but that he would look into the situation. He apparently felt that our troll crossed the line and took appropriate action. For that, I applaud Aaron.
Best Regards,
Shipo
198 messages yesterday?!?!? That's crazy. What, the whole world wants BMWs now? I'm afraid soon enough there won't any Mustangs left to entertain me during my morning commute
-Z
I hope you all read my post about diversity a couple of days ago. We do need different opinions or otherwise we'd all end up driving the same color 330i SP, same options and all - what a boring world that would be everyone driving the same car. Mine and Shipo's point is about the tone of voice and intelligent discussions, as opposed to a board which encourages dick-slamming contests. I have often expressed opinions about other cars and I have shared with you that the A4 is better in some respects, and that my VR6 is faster and all. That has never ticked off anyone of you because these comparisons have all been civil and presented in a tone that we can all learn from. This board is more mature, friendly, and fun than your average board - wouldn't be great if we keep it that way?? There are enough BMW boards for kids out there already. It's fine with me if v_tech wants to stay here but just don't hurt my ears and try to speak in an intelligible voice. It's OK to ask questions if you are not sure; but you won't learn anything if you keep aggressing posters and ultimately, you would turn into a grumpy, masochist outcast. Let's all get along and have respect for each other.
Glad our Altezza-fan/troll is unofficially gone from the board. I, too, value a "devil's advocate" position -- typically lends more credibility to the prevailing issue. However, I also agree that Mr. v_tech's blatantly negative, moronic style took more away than added. He will certainly not be missed...
As for the oi/filter change issue, I admit, I've always been overly anal regarding this (once at 500, then 1,500, then every 3,000 EXACTLY), but being an engineer, I'm overly anal by nature. Yes, it does not feel particularly comfortable seeing 4,800 mi on the odo and seeing 9,725 until next service, but I trust the engineers (and even the marketers) at BMW -- they're not gonna risk a potential 2nd time buyer for a few measly extra $40 oil/filter changes. All the logic and arguments from above are good ones. Of course, it really comes down to what you're COMFORTABLE with. If you can't sleep at night knowing that your $35k baby's engine has 7,500 mile-old oil in her, then $40 is well-spent on peace-of-mind alone. But technologically, as long as you ensure the level is always between the low and high levels, you should sleep fine.
One question (I consider myself pretty technically adept, but certainly not omniscient): could somebody explain to me what key physical design differences between the M3/M5 engines and the "lower" engines would mandate an oil/filter change directly after break-in (1,200 mi)? This muddies the "no oil changes needed" argument a bit, and I want to find out more...
Sorry if I've confused anyone--I've been using two different handles on this board (akwon/thedeepdarkblu), due to the face that when I tried to log in on my home computer, I couldn't remember my password to "thedeepdarkblu" handle (my office computer automatically logs me in.
Regarding wood trim, I think it can look good w/ certain color combinations, but it looks a bit strange with the black interior. Plus, there seems to be quite a bit of lacquer on top, so it feels/looks a bit plasticky. The gearshift knob feels good, though. I went with the SP and no PP b/c I've got a black interior, but I'm not a huge fan of the gloss black trim (it reminds me of cheesy 80's black lacquer furniture). But I'll have to wait and see what the entire package looks like--I'm leaning towards getting the aftermarket aluminum trim.
thedeepdarkblu - good to know you have two handles - we'll be able to figure out how many hours you put in at work every week
i do apologize for my immature and juvenile remarks i don't really want to be a menace really. can you all please let me stay??? dsr2d2 called me a [non-permissible content removed] bag and i've taken all these hits about my being retarded i think i deserve another shot don't you all think??? poor me.
anyway since i am too damn dumb to come up with anyting of real substance i am going to try something new. i know you will all love this especially those of you with your smug i drove a IS300 and it rides like a piece of junk DOESN'T EVEN COME CLOSE biased bimmer lovers. here is a take on the IS300 and 330i by peter egan of road and track.
"...we have the IS300, whcih is markedly the most sports car-like in the group. It's a taut,nimble car that feels smaller and quidcker on its feet than any of the others and revs with a silky, high-winding snarl. Heading onto the track (or winding road), you immediately notice the quick, accurate steering, a sense that the IS300 has the least rubber in its joints of any car here. it accelerates hard with a race-car-like wail (the other cars sound as iff they are inhaling at speed, most of their fury coming from induction noise, while the lexus actually has an exhaust note) IN CORNERS, THE IS300 is quite tossible and, more than the others, it seems possible to trail-brake the lexus' tail out a little to help it rotate in tight corners but never gets seriously out of shape....."
All four drivers commented that the lexus was the most fun car of the group (even the two who likedt the bmw better), with the sharpest edge, and nearly everyone picked it as first choice for an all-daydrive through the mountains.
"the "fun" factor can also be attributed to the car's ability to thread through our slalom exercise iwth sports-car-like results, with the speedometer averaging 65.6mph. AND around the 200-ft skidpad, its ability to generate 0.91g of lateral acceleration also leads the group in road-holding skills.....everyone areed that, functionally it is a excitiing car to drive with a foundation of solid thoughtful engineering undre its exuberant and spirited personality. By the numbers alone the lexus comes out on top of this sports-sedan comparison test. However, it did so not by winning the Performace or Subjective ratings but by closely trailing the BMW and the mercedes in both categories and pulling ahead with its least expensive sticker price....it's the least expensive car in this group by an eyebrow-raising margin.
LIKE I SAID BEFORE I AM NOT DISILLUSIONED TO THE FACT THAT THE BMW 330i is a better car but with that price tag of 40K (please don't tell me that after tax and licensing it won't top 40 something fully loaded) this car is OVERRATED.
To the eloquent guy with the cavalier attitude. suggesting that lexus is just a toyota with gold trim is old material. i am unimpressed by your unitelligent and shallow remark. it is almost as good as the wannabe imitator lines i have been hearing. at least toyota/lexus cars don't look like sawed off versions of one another. the 330i seems to morphing itself into a smaller version of the 5 series. OF COURSE the 98 325 coupe i think looks just like a 98 M3 from a cursory glance. i guess that is what the buyer wants me to see anyway. a shell with no guts. just like the current and past 325 owners. there are many of them who don't want to shell out the bucks but who cares everyone thinks you have the 328 or 330i anyway but you don't do you???
and to the person who paid 38 for the 325xi. gurumike said actually the 330i comes sticker 36K. boy we all better find that dealership. where's that in fiji gurumike??? don't tell the person that dished out 38K for that 325xi. oh wait that all wheel drive is worth that 38K right?? funny my friend was going to get a more loaded 330xi but guess what?? he can't stomach the over 40 something price tag. so he has a 330i on order for a mere 40K after tax and licensing. funny the road and track guys got their 330i pretty loaded from a NJ dealer i think for 39,804 BEFORE TAX AND LICENSING. you all do the math i am too dumb but i think that tops 40K. fools, they should have come here first then they could have discovered that there is one available on this planet for 36K.
vvti
Sure, I've opened myself to more personal attacks by calling you out, and from you, I have come to expect it. But you need to realize that you are doing yourself and/or your cause MUCH more harm than good. I certainly don't see any 3-series owners/owners-to-be going over to the IS300 board and launching random hand grenades...there's simply nothing to be gained by doing so.